While driving a vehicle, a driver must constantly review his surroundings to avoid a collision. Side rear-view mirrors assist a driver in reviewing the surroundings generally disposed behind the driver without the driver having to turn his head more than necessary.
Blind spots exist on either side of the vehicle. Blind spots are spaces that are not visible to the driver through the rear-view mirrors and the driver must turn his head to view the blind spots.
Customarily, the side rear-view mirrors are provided with means for adjusting the orientation of the mirrors. For an electrically powered adjustment, two electric motors are generally provided, one for adjusting the orientation about a vertical axis and the other for adjusting the orientation about a horizontal axis.
However, these adjusting devices are not suitable for a driver to use for exposing blind spots while driving because the devices rotate the mirrors slowly and using such devices while driving can be very dangerous.
Various means for exposing blind spots by rotating the side rear-view mirrors from a normal position to a predetermined position have been introduced, but they operate rather slowly and lack mechanism to avoid interference between such means and the existing adjusting devices. To be effective, the blind spot exposing means should work very fast. A means for exposing blind spots requires at least one motor or motion actuator and the adjusting devices usually include two motors.
Besides, the conventional means for exposing blind spots do not have a means to adjust or change the predetermined position. The predetermined position should vary depending on a driver's height, preferential driving posture, etc.
Accordingly, to solve the above problems, a need for a vehicle side rear-view mirror assembly having a means for exposing a blind spot and for adjusting the predetermined position has been present for a long time considering the expansive demands in the everyday life. This invention is directed to solve these problems and satisfy the long-felt need.